in the second half: OK, we've been way up at the end of the first half in both games. Stoops has gone conservative out of the gate in the 2nd half (helped of course by penalties, etc.). We are not as likely to be up by big scores at the end of the first half in our next two games. IMO we will see a very different approach in the last half of the game than we have seen in the first to games.
Since we've been going conservative
- Thread starter dyersburgcatfan
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I have no real evidence of the following, just a gut feeling.
Right now we are 2-0. Confidence and momentum are up. We are likely feeling more loose now than we were a few wks ago. We improved from wk 1 to wk 2. We are on the verge of a 4 game stretch of home games. We played Florida to the wire last yr. Most of the media are anticipating a Florida win.....Vegas predicts a Florida win. The pressure just seems to be more on Florida right now. They have to win this if they are going to start off the McElwain era with a bowl game.
The whole thing is telling my gut that we will come out with the ability to open up and cut loose.
About the only thing that will make us a tad uptight prior to the game is that everyone is going to hold their breath when we start playing after halftime.
Right now we are 2-0. Confidence and momentum are up. We are likely feeling more loose now than we were a few wks ago. We improved from wk 1 to wk 2. We are on the verge of a 4 game stretch of home games. We played Florida to the wire last yr. Most of the media are anticipating a Florida win.....Vegas predicts a Florida win. The pressure just seems to be more on Florida right now. They have to win this if they are going to start off the McElwain era with a bowl game.
The whole thing is telling my gut that we will come out with the ability to open up and cut loose.
About the only thing that will make us a tad uptight prior to the game is that everyone is going to hold their breath when we start playing after halftime.
I'd disagree that they "went conservative".
Before the last drive UK had run 16 plays in the second half...10 were passes. There was one run play and one pass play that were called back for penalties.
When you're backed up on your side of the field you don't take stupid chances...they did so on the first series of the game and you saw what happened. Not counting punts they ran 38 run plays and 29 passes for the game. 1st half, 17 passes, 26 runs. 2nd half, 12 passes, 12 run plays and 7 of those run plays (and 2 passes) were on the last drive with 3 being when they were taking a knee.
Agree,without those penalties the 2nd half probably plays out differently.It seems we have to learn how to play with a lead and it is proving to be more difficult than it should be,maybe because we are still a young team
I think the second half struggles can somewhat be attributed to the fact that Coach Stoops is learning to coach with a lead in the second half. This is new to him. I think as time goes by he will figure this out. I do understand that penalties and mistakes have somewhat contributed to this, but I also feel that his lack of experience in these situations is a factor.
USC..we start both drives of 2nd half with holding penalties on both drives and was facing a 1st and 20. Stoops did choose to run the ball vs. just going to the pass which could be a conservative approach...but I'd like to have seen what we could have done without those penalties.
- And I'd argue the 2nd holding call on West was very iffy. I think the refs had USC's coaching staff in their ears a bit.
- And I'd argue the 2nd holding call on West was very iffy. I think the refs had USC's coaching staff in their ears a bit.
I think it was more due to penalties in the SC game..those that were called and not called (late hit on UK player out of bounds that was not called that would have extended a drive). In the ULL game I think it was lack of adjustments by the coaches at halftime, and bad playcalling, but not conservative at all.
We often hear some one mention bad play calling. Just what is a bad play call? Is it when the play is unsuccessful? I don't think so. My description of a bad play call would be running a quarterback sneak on 3rd and 25 trailing 21 to 0 in fourth quarter and even then its possible to score.
Play calling is determined by many factors, your teams capabilities, score of game, time left in game, weather conditions, what the defense is giving. etc. just to name a few.
I think Stoops has been around long enough to know how to coach when leading at halftime perhaps maybe not at UK. All these factors above are considered by the coaches in their play calling.
I think a lot of fans confuse so-called bad play calling with failure to execute. jmho
People keep mentioning penalties as the reason for conservative play calling and that's just not entirely accurate , it had an impact no doubt but we didn't get penalties on every series and yet still called run on almost every play . We called run on the penalty plays and then still call run after the penalty , how did the penalty matter when you were going to run it every play no matter what and on the series we didn't get a penalty we still went three and out with nothing but runs . You can still pass and get first downs even if you touched up the series to begin with , point is you can at least try and we didn't . We got lucky and won despite the second half run or nothing plan , Stoops admitted he went conservative and I think he will avoid taking that approach going forward . I think they have some trepidation about Towles accuracy and thought he could potentially throw the game away , thank goodness we won because a loss in that fashion would have cemented the Stoops era with other synonymous cats looses of years past .
You characterize the second half as "run or nothing plan", the facts don't support your premise. 1st half, 17 passes, 26 runs. 2nd half, 12 passes, 12 run plays and 7 of those run plays (and 2 passes) were on the last drive with 3 being when they were taking a knee.
Also, Stoops said that they "went conservative" <--- he didn't use those words...on the last drive, not for the entire 2nd half.
Hard to put any faith in the second half passing facet when at least two of those passes were screens on a long distance down (I feel like there were more than 2 on long-distance downs)... S.Car brought run support a lot more in the second half. Lob it up for Johnson or Baker and make TBC honest again and we don't have anyone arguing about penalties and conservative play and that kind of crap.
Conservative or not, it's up to our offense to get out of holes and we cannot pray that a late hit or other call will bail us out. Running up the gut to their safeties is not sound football when you're 2nd and 20 (random scenario example).
We'll get better with every game. The coaches are learning sometimes as much as the kids are. Just gotta be patient.
Conservative or not, it's up to our offense to get out of holes and we cannot pray that a late hit or other call will bail us out. Running up the gut to their safeties is not sound football when you're 2nd and 20 (random scenario example).
We'll get better with every game. The coaches are learning sometimes as much as the kids are. Just gotta be patient.
